Page 59 of The Duke's Spinster

“I was trying to ease you into my future.”

“Your future?”

“Our future.”

“I didn’t think you knew how to ease into anything. I thought you just always came out guns blazing.”

“That’s Zenobia,” she chuckled.

“What?” Wesley asked in bewilderment.

“The guns,” Boudicca explained. “Never mind. Thank you for the gift. It is perfect, and it’s really the only reason I agreed to be your wife and create a future together.”

“Well, it’s our future, and I can’t wait for more of it.”

“So if he hadn’t bought you the gymnasium you would have refused his offer?” Joan smiled, knowingly.

Boudicca only shrugged. “Well I did tell him that he also owes me half of what he wins for his silly little bet.”

“What does he win?” Mimi asked.

“I have no idea, but it better be good.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The wedding tookplace three days later. One day to recover and collect a special license. One day to recover from recovering, and then the last day to say theirI do’s.

The day before the wedding, the day of recovering from recovering, was the most notable.

Wesley showed up with flowers (pink peonies) in one hand, and waving the special license in the air in the second hand. Sans chocolate. But she couldn’t expect them upon every visit, could she?

Boudicca saw the waving paper and led Wesley up to her room before anyone else could join them.

“There’s one last thing I want to do before we get married,” she said in a soft voice, reminding him of the night he bumped into her. Before he really knew her. She had been all sweetness as a stranger, and then she had turned to stone. And then to ice. Then to fire wielding a sharp blade. And now back to sweetness. The woman would never cease to surprise him.

And with the warning that there was something else she wanted to do before marriage, Wesley felt his heart hammer in his chest. In his mind, he envisioned all kinds of requests. Larger gifts. An adventure somewhere. Taking up another hobby. Did the woman have another secret that he needed to know about? Was there another dream she had yet to mention? What was she going to show him? He had hoped that everything was out in the open since they had divulged their deepest dreams and painsto each other, but really, he just couldn’t be sure. It was a tiny portion of him that was squirming, wriggling, curious. What was going to happen next? And he loved it. He loved her. So whatever she wanted to do, he was going to make sure she achieved it.

Really, that seemed the least he could do. He knew she had forgiven him. The begging had helped. The gift of the gymnasium had helped more. Now he wanted to show her how much he could love her.

“What do you want to do?” He asked as she tugged him into her bedchamber.

She closed the door. Locked it. And tossed the special license to her desk. “You.”

Well, now…that was a request he could easily accomplish. He would work toward her achievement with ample effort. In fact, she may have a few achievements, if he had his way. Her eyes were glistening with delight, and he studied her lips, still rounded from the last word to leave them. And before he could part his own lips to offer any words of affection or seduction, he realized they wouldn’t be necessary.

Her lips were already on his. Drunk in elation. Her breasts were flattened to his chest, and her legs were clamoring to climb him. A surge of joy shot through him.

“Boudicca, you are my greatest win. I will always be at home with you. There is no greater triumph than finding the love of your life and cherishing her.”

“I didn’t realize you were so romantic, Wesley.”

“I’m not. But you do something to my heart that makes it…”

“Gush?”

“Apparently.”

He lifted her up and waltzed over to the bed. A bed. Finally a bed, though he didn’t imagine himself doing much sleeping in it. One by one, he withdrew the pins from gloriously golden tresses until finally her hair cascaded over down her shoulders.Her rosy pink lips parted in a gasp, and he could almost read her thoughts. Remembering what they had already experienced together only a few nights ago. She was perfection, and he needed to see all of her. Slowly, he pulled the ties of her frock as she pointed them out. Not that he needed the instruction, but if she wanted to lead in parts, he wanted to follow. If she was willing to ask for what she wanted, he would be willing to give it to her.

---